Changed Existence
by Vengence-Angel2010
Summary: Youkai do not understand 'love' but do understand ownership. You do not mess with what youkai consider 'theirs'. Time travelling Kyuubi, smart-er naruto, yaoi eventaully kaka/naru  I DO NOT OWN NARUTO- if you couldn't tell
1. Chapter 1

Welcome to my first Naruto Fanfic. Enjoy!

_Italics are thoughts/conversations inside Naruto's head_

* * *

Naruto screamed. Kyuubi screamed. Madara laughed darkly at his victim's pain. He finally had the Kyuubi no Kitsune, the last of the tailed beasts. Soon he would put his plans into action, and the world would be his. Or so the madman thought.  
The last of the Akatski worked to complete the extraction, and the seventh tail was reached. In the seal on the young blonde shinobi's body, the ultimate failsafe was triggered. This was the final line of defence, written into the seal by the Fourth Hokage, disallowing forced extraction from the jinchuuriki. Upon reaching the seventh tail, the Kyuubi felt its chakra, its whole psyche; begin merging into Naruto's.

The extracted tails began to return into the young man's body, to the astonishment of the remaining members of the Red Dawn, and the utter dismay of their leader. Now was the demon lord's turn to laugh. Taking possession of the jinchuuriki's body, the Kyuubi spread its chakra from the limp form, creating an insubstantial energy body.

"You dare to harm my brethren, and my kit?" Thundered the glowing chakra beast, "I shall destroy you!" Madara turned the Eternal Mangyoku onto the giant red eyes, trying to control the enraged youkai like he had done decades before.

"Foolish Human," Kyuubi laughed, "You can no longer control me. The failsafe was triggered, and I am merging with my host. Before I go, I will show you the error of your greed."  
The giant chakra fox whipped its multiple tails through the condemned shinobi, the mere touch poisoning their bodies. The Kyuubi laughed manically, seeing the life of the dying jinchuuriki flash through its mind. Roaring in the shared pain, the demon used its claws to destroy the statue that held its captive brethren. The tailed beasts flooded from their broken prison, and converged upon their rapidly dying saviour.

"Kyuubi no Kitsune, you shall not cease to exist." They intoned as one. With a blinding flash, and explosion that rocked the entire continent, the mountain hideaway belonging to the Akatski was annihilated.

* * *

The Kyuubi no Kitsune was heading towards the Village Hidden in the Leaves, under the control of a madman. The demon felt an odd sense of de ja vu.  
_'Ah, so this is what they did. I can change things for my kit.'_  
In an unexpected move, Kyuubi threw out one of its tails, knocking a tall blonde haired man off the back of the boss toad, disrupting the seal array he had been placing. The youkai lord smiled, then let out an ear splitting roar, causing a minor earthquake.

The beast ignored the tug it felt from the madman Madara, trying to urge the demon lord further towards the village. In the partial merger, Kyuubi had taken a part of its host's soul, entwined in its own, back into the past. The madman did not have full control this time.

An imposingly tall white haired man replaced the previous blonde in completing the seal on the newborn child; an older man in battle armour joining him. The Kyuubi thrashed its head, and let out another shrieking roar, fighting against the outside urges to kill and destroy everything in its path.  
The white haired man completed the seal to the best of his ability, and stepped away from the one in armour.  
The elder man performed the hand signs, sending his chakra into the seal, calling upon the shinigami. As the death god appeared, reaching to take the Kyuubi's soul and imprison it in the newborn child, the great youkai laughed. Laughed and hoped that the shinigami would take the madman who was at fault too. Then, there was darkness. A strangely familiar darkness. The Kyuubi no Kitsune chucked darkly, and settled itself to rest in the sealed cage.

* * *

The Kyuubi was startled awake after its prolonged nap. The jinchuuriki was suffering through the first poison attempt; though this time the boy was older. Not by much, but at least slightly older. The boy's chakra was dealing with the poison. His healing was like a kekkai genkai, inherited from his birth-mother. Ignoring the poison, the youkai lent his chakra to its host's pained screaming, hoping to alert another human to the child's distress. Maybe they will catch and execute the traitor this time.  
Another of the white masked ANBU slammed through the door, sensitive nose picking up on the scent of the poison laced into the child's bottle.

"What have you done?" The Wolf masked ANBU growled.

"Apparently nothing, the damn demon is still alive." The other muttered ruefully, knowing full well the consequences now that he was caught. A brief flash of movement, and the attempted poisoner's head rolled on the floor, free from the body it had previously sat upon. Blood sprayed over the infant, and the Kyuubi enjoyed tasting it through the child's senses. The wolf ANBU turned his eyes to the blood-stained child.

_"Oh look, it's Wolf-san."_ Rumbled the Kyuubi from its cage. At the sound of the beast's voice inside his conscious, the jinchuuriki abruptly stopped crying.

"_Ah, you can hear me little one."_ Stated the youkai, _"Smile for Wolf-san, my kit, he stopped one who would hurt you."_ The child of barely one year of age, smiled at the masked man. The man couldn't help but think how innocent the child looked, even covered in blood.

"Well, I suppose I'd better get you cleaned up." Sighed the Wolf. With its kit under suitable care for the time being, the Kyuubi turned to thinking of how it could protect the child and itself, and make its vessel strong enough for what would come in the future.

_'I saved that useless human this time, and the kit is still being poisoned._' The great beast shook its head sadly. _'Now, what can I do to one-up that damned Shukaku? The Ichibi vessel had the sand. What can beat sand? Wet sand can't move as fast. And no need for a gourd with all the water in the air and the ground.'_ The beast mused, then set to work.

* * *

The small, thin four year old child smiled impishly as a wall of water appeared from seemingly no-where, blocking the sharp kunai that were thrown at him. He giggled at his would-be attackers stupefied expressions, as their supposed sneak attack turned to dust. Raising one hand, the water wall morphed, reaching towards the stunned men, sliding through their nostrils and open mouths, into their lungs, drowning them within their own bodies. The small blonde watched in morbid fascination as the men clawed at their own throats and chests, trying desperately to breathe. As the men moved their last, glassy eyes open with expressions of absolute terror, the strangling water receded from their corpses, returning to the damp ground. The child picked up the forgotten kunai, pocketed them, and cheerfully skipped away.

'_Did I do good Father?'_ The child mentally asked.

_"Yes my kit. You did very well."_ Complimented the demon, "_Now hurry, the Hokage will be displeased if you are any later."_ The child nodded to himself, and sped up to a run, heading towards the Hokage tower. The ANBU team stationed to watch over the child, slid out of the shadows and silently followed. The child ran straight up the outer wall of the tower, and slid into the office through an open window.

"Hokage-sama." The small blonde greeted.

"Naruto, why do you still call me 'Hokage-sama' when we are not in public?" The tall, blonde Hokage asked wearily.

"Fa-Kyuubi told me that the name 'Father' is earned, not given. So Kyuubi is 'Father', and you are 'Hokage-sama'." The child replied, grinning innocently. The demon chuckled in his cage.

"I guess I deserve that." The man muttered to himself. The Fourth Hokage was rather ashamed of his actions in regards of his son. After the boy was born, and the Nine-tailed Fox sealed within, Minato was too lost in his grief for his deceased wife to pay attention to him. Naruto had been raised by the ANBU and the demon fox imprisoned in his body. Shortly after the boy's third birthday, he was unintentionally witness to yet another attempt on his son's life and he hadn't even known about the boy's water based defence mechanism. The respectable Fourth Hokage was then told by the ANBU on duty that the boy had been able to defend himself with the demon-given ability since he was a one year old. When the man retreated to his private quarters that night, he cried for how much of his own child's life he had missed.

"The Kazekage and his son will be here soon."The Hokage told the boy. Naruto merely smiled innocently in response, and followed the village leader to the meeting room.

While the two village leaders got to discussing the renewal of treaties and trade allowances, Naruto looked to the only other child in the room, a silent, red-headed boy about his own age. The other boy didn't greet anyone, show any expression what-so-ever, nor sit down and join Naruto in his drawing.

_"Hey Kit."_ The Kyuubi called, _"That one holds the Ichibi. He is like you."_ The little blonde smirked as he got an idea. Father had told him that the Shukaku vessel used sand like he used water, so that logically meant that that was what was contained within the gourd on the red-head's back. Concentrating, Naruto fed his chakra into the water vapour in the air, directing as much as possible into the sand gourd. The humidity of the room dropped drastically, and the little red-head fell on his butt from the sudden extra weight. Naruto giggled and his demon sniggered.

"Hi, I'm Naruto." The blonde introduced himself to the still surprised boy. He sat next to the red-head, handed him some paper, and placed a crayon in his hand. "What's your name?"

"Gaara." Replied the still stunned red-head. "Aren't you scared of me?"

"Nope." Naruto replied easily, "Father says he's stronger than Shukaku." Startled, Gaara looked towards the Hokage.

"No, that's Hokage-sama." Corrected the blonde, "Father." He tapped a finger to his own head for explanation.

"You are like me?"Gaara asked. "And how did you know about Mother?"

"Father told me. He says 'Mother' is in pain and you should see a seal-master." Naruto calmly explained, continuing his drawing. "You going to draw something?"  
Gaara looked to the yellow crayon in his hand, and the blank paper in front of him. With one more wary glance to the blonde next to him, he began drawing as well.

* * *

Naruto stomped towards the Hokage's office. The ANBU guarding the door cringed at the angry aura the small blonde was giving off, and hurried out his way. They had all seen the boy throw people with giant waves, or drown them in their own bodies before. Though he'd never hurt anyone who wasn't actively trying to kill him, they were still wary of the chibi jinchuuriki.

"Where is Wolf-san?" The little boy demanded of the Hokage. The man looked up from his paperwork.

"On the mission I gave to him." The elder blonde replied. "You have Cat to watch you today." In truth, he knew this would be coming. Wolf had been on permanent Naruto-watch since the child was born, and was one of the few ANBU who actually interacted with the boy. To be perfectly honest, the Fourth was a little jealous of his ex-pupil.

"Cat-san doesn't talk to me. I want Wolf-san back." Was little Naruto's reply.

"Well I'm sorry, but I need my ANBU to go on missions when I tell them." The Hokage replied evenly.

"Who's going to help me practise with my kunai now? I want my Wolf-san back." The boy whined.

"Alright, first off, Wolf is my ANBU, not yours." The Hokage snapped, "And I'll help you with your kunai if you want."

"When? When you get home at midnight?" Hissed Naruto, before he turned on his little heel and stormed out of the tower, Cat the ANBU trailing in his wake.

'_Father! He took away my Wolf-san!_' Naruto cried to his tenant. _'He took him away from me.'_

"_I know, my kit, he is just jealous. You must make do without for the time being. Wolf-san will be back."_ The Kyuubi tried to reassure his distraught vessel. _"I will teach you a jutsu that you can show Wolf-san when he returns, yes?" _The boy still sniffled a little, but turned his total concentration to the demon's instruction. Once his vessel was otherwise occupied, concentrating on the sheet-less Kakuremino no Jutsu variation that it had just explained, the Kyuubi retreated to his thoughts.

_'Foolish man, taking away Kit's only human contact._ _Now how will he learn things like human emotion?'_ The demon mused. _'I assume the man will feel guilt and return Wolf-san. It would not have been easy to convince him to leave my kit to begin with; I will have to distract Kit until Wolf-san is returned.'_

* * *

The Wolf masked ANBU spent the next six years doing almost back to back missions. As soon as he had the energy to ask after Naruto, or begin covertly looking for the child, he was called on for another mission. He felt that his old sensei was punishing him for the argument they'd had regarding Naruto's upbringing, and the council's intervention into such. He'd eventually given the Hokage a nice black eye in his frustration. Six years of exhaustion was a long punishment for a black eye.

The wolf ANBU stumbled into the Hokage's office late one night of the sixth year, to report before heading home to sleep. It had been a tough mission; his uniform was covered in dirt and dried blood, only some of which was his own, and he hadn't slept in four days. The man was on the verge of simultaneously collapsing, and giving in to the hallucinations that were buzzing around in the back of his mind.  
The Hokage studied his subordinate while the man gave his oral report. Slowly his guilt rose as he took in the man's battered appearance, and bone weary stance.

"Mask off Kakashi." He quietly ordered. Beneath the ceramic wolf mask, was a cloth mask covering the bottom two-thirds of the ANBU's face, his right eye was dark grey and half closed as though fighting off sleep, the left closed in an effort to preserve chakra, and somehow looked mildly bruised under the scar. Even the man's silver, gravity-defying hair seemed to be wilting with exhaustion. The Hokage winced.

"As of now I am officially retiring you from active ANBU duty. You will return to normal jonin status, and be taking on a genin team including one Uchiha Sasuke, as per the council's request. You will be testing the team in seven days time. Until then, you are on paid leave to rest. Any questions?" The blonde explained.

"No, Hokage-sama." The silver haired one replied in a flat, dead tone. The hokage winced again.

"Alright, dismissed." He sighed, holding out the student profiles of the three genin. Kakashi placed his ANBU mask on the Hokage's desk directly in front of the man, took the profiles, bowed once, and slowly made his way out of the tower, and towards his home and bed.  
It wasn't until the morning that he was supposed to meet his genin team that Kakashi finally looked at the student profiles.

* * *

Naruto and his new team were the last left waiting for their new jonin sensei. The pinkette, Sakura, was simpering and cooing over the brooding Uchiha, who was pointedly ignoring the girl. Naruto decided to meditate. He could calmly await the tardy teacher by the fox's cage, thus ignoring his team mates as much as they were ignoring him.

_"Kit, a jonin is approaching_." The fox informed him.

"_Thanks Father."_ The blonde replied, leaving his mediative state.

Naruto brought his right hand up to his shoulder, calling forth vapour from the atmosphere, creating a ball of chakra reinforced water in the palm of his hand. As soon as a silver topped head peered around the half-open door, Naruto hurled the ball of water at the man. It splattered right in the jonin's face, soaking his head and shirt. Before the man cleared the water from his singular visible eye, the blonde rearranged his features from a foxy grin, to an angelic smile. Coupled with his big blue eyes, blonde hair, soft tan skin and small stature, his mere appearance tended to keep him out of trouble. Who could stay mad at an angel? The jonin finally cleared the water out his face enough to see and speak.

"So we have here, a devil (looking to the Uchiha), an angel (looking to Naruto), and a... flower? (Looking to Sakura)" He muttered, sounding utterly bored. "Meet me on the roof in two minutes." The man then 'poofed' away, with a swirl of leaves and a small cloud of chakra smoke.

"Why'd you do that for Naruto?" Shrieked Sakura. Sasuke merely glared.

"He was late." Was all the blonde responded with, heading for the stairs to the roof.

_'He smelled like Wolf-san.'_ Naruto told his tenant.

"_That's because he is Wolf-san."_ Growled Kyuubi, _"His being your sensei wasn't changed by my disruption of the time-line."_

_'Good. Though I wish the pink banshee being on my team would have changed though.' _The boy grumbled back. The great youkai merely chuckled darkly, choosing not to divulge that previously the boy had had a ridiculous crush on the girl at this age. Naruto had already been informed of his previous over-abundance of orange clothing, and as a result of having seen the Kyuubi's memories, had steadfastly refused to wear any orange. Ever. Which, of course, completely spoiled all of the demon's fun. Black shinobi pants and sandals, and a blue sleeveless hooded jacket, were nothing to be made fun of.

"_You know, last time around, all you did to the poor man was make a chalk duster fall on his head."_ Kyuubi sniggered. _"Last time you got him dirty, and this time you got him clean, it cancels itself out."_ Naruto snorted out loud.

"What are you laughing at, dobe?" Sasuke sneered unpleasantly. Naruto gave him an evil grin, and then walked past the other boy, onto the roof. The brunette felt a chill go down his spine at the blonde's expression.  
After the introductions, Kakashi told the team about the test the next day, where to meet and when. Once again, the man made a quick jutsu escape. Naruto's team mates left as well; Sakura trying to follow Sasuke, and Sasuke trying valiantly to leave the girl behind.

_'He forgot about me! My wolf-san forgot about me!'_ The blonde boy felt like crying.

_"Stop it."_ The demon snapped_, "Use your nose Kit. The man was trying to suppress his nerves every time he looked at you. Now stop acting like a spoilt brat."_ The Kyuubi growled in its cage.

_'I... Yes Father. You're right.'_ The boy calmed his internal tantrum.

"_Of course I'm right. You can make it up to me by finding those missing nin we read about in the Hokage's office .Now hurry, I am hungry."_

_'Yes Sir!'_ Naruto smiled. The boy took off, moving as fast as he could, in the direction of the missing nin's last known camp. Wouldn't the ANBU be surprised when they found tonight's mission done for them?


	2. Chapter 2

**This Chapter is brought to you by COLD and their album 'A Different Kind of Pain', peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and my laptop. **

**Thankyou to all those who fav'd my story and added it to their alerts. I would publicly like to acknowledge the four wonderful reviewers of Chapter 1: Chobits909, Sanz0girl, sousie and RayneXHatake (who wrote the longest and most insightful review I have ever recieved.) Thankyou reviewers very much, you motivate me to keep writing.**

**

* * *

**CHAPTER 2

Kakashi recognised it for what it was; a peace offering. Rather than placing Naruto in a team with those he could get along with, or apprenticing him out, he was placed with the Uchiha and Haruno, so that he would be with him.

Sneaky getting that past the council, but not sneaky enough. Everyone knew that the pint sized blonde was powerful, you could practically feel all that power just rolling off him. So that gave Kakashi no excuse to spend more time with the boy. He'd have to follow orders to train Uchiha Sasuke specifically, if only for the reason that he desperately needed it, if one compared his abilities with those of his blonde team mate.

It didn't help that Kakashi had been forcefully separated from the child for over six years. He just didn't know how to act towards the boy anymore. As a six year old, Naruto had liked to train with weapons, play hide and seek, prank on duty ANBU, and sit close while they both read their respective books. He really knew very little about what the boy was like now, after so many years apart. Kakashi knew that Naruto had recognised him, even without the ANBU uniform and ceramic mask. Watching his every move expectantly with those big, innocent blue eyes; it had felt like he was being x-rayed.

He knew it was a peace offering, not just to him, but to Naruto as well. Kakashi still felt that his ex-sensei deserved another black eye, if only to knock some sense back into his head, but he accepted it as it was. He was determined not to let someone take him away from Naruto again.

* * *

Naruto and his team mates were waiting for Kakashi-sensei to arrive and begin their 'survival training'. Sakura was attempting, yet again, to get Sasuke to go on a date. Sasuke, for his part, was steadfastly ignoring the girl. Naruto was meditating. The fox was showing him memories of the first bell-test, when Naruto wore orange and was much louder.

'_I don't like that past.'_ The boy stated.

_"Why is that, hmm? Because you were an annoying waste of space?" _The demon questioned.

_'Oi! That's not very nice.'_ Naruto replied, _'It's more that I didn't know Wolf-san. And I had no contact with you of course.'_ The boy felt his cheeks heat up, but didn't understand why. He supposed he must be getting sunburned.

_"No one ever said I had to be nice. Anyway, the seal was different then, I can talk to you this time." _Kyuubi did not mention the missing fail-safe, it was not important for its vessel to know of that yet.

'_So the test is about teamwork... How am I supposed to get those two to work with me?'_ The blonde mused.

_"Work it out for yourself, brat. You do have your own brain you know." _And with that, the Kyuubi unceremoniously dumped the boy out of his mediative state.

Naruto sighed and stretched. Sasuke glared as though Naruto moving was highly offensive.  
The blonde could clearly hear his team mates' stomaches growling, and he sniggered as the stuck-up brunette tried to pretend that the sound hadn't come from him. Sasuke glared again.

"What are you laughing about dobe? The boy demanded.

"No-thing." Naruto chirped, grinning. "You know if you guys had just talked to me yesterday, instead of rushing off, I would have happily told you about the supposed 'no breakfast' thing. Then you wouldn't be so noisy."

"You can't just not listen to Kakashi-sensei. He told us not to." Sakura complained, turning disapproving eyes on her blonde team mate.

"He 'advised', not 'ordered'. And how's he going to know if you ate breakfast at dawn, when he won't even show up till ten?" Naruto snorted.

"How do you know he's not going to show up till ten?" Sasuke questioned suspiciously. "Where's your information coming from?"

"Ask no questions, and I'll tell you no lies." The enigmatic response was given with a closed-eye smile. "There's another thing I happen to know about that you might be interested in."

"Oh yeah, what's that?" Sakura asked, caution warring with curiosity.

"I know how to pass today's 'survival training'. Would my team mates like to know?" Naruto asked sweetly.

"Hn. If a dobe like you can figure it out, it won't be hard. I don't need your help." The Uchiha grumbled, turning his back to the blonde.

"Yeah Sasuke-kun doesn't need help from the Hokage's pet demon." Sakura backed the boy up, "He's a genius and could probably take you down in like, two seconds."  
Naruto rolled his eyes with annoyance. He never did understand people his own age.

"The answer's Teamwork. When you've grown a brain, come get me." The boy smiled cheerfully, dashing off to the river that bordered the training ground.  
As their tardy sensei finally appeared at ten o'clock exactly, Sasuke glanced around for Naruto, and saw him sitting peacefully in the middle of the river, on top of the water. Sasuke's eyebrow twitched.

* * *

Naruto watched peacefully as Sakura fainted, twice, and Sasuke got himself buried up to his neck. Well, he was peaceful on the outside anyway; on the inside both Naruto and Kyuubi were laughing heartily. Finally getting over his giggles, Naruto rescued his supposed team mates.

"So, been beaten up enough yet?" He cheekily asked.  
The Uchiha growled at the insult, but nodded briefly to show he was listening to the blonde's plan.

"Well, I was thinking that if you guys could lead Kakashi-sensei down here near the river, I'll hold him with water, while you take the bells. Nice and simple." Naruto explained.

"Hn." Said Sasuke. The blonde took that as agreement because the other boy began walking towards where their sensei was reading. Sakura eventually followed.

_"Oh look, you really do have a brain of your own_." The Kyuubi remarked. The jinchuuriki ignored the demon in favour of coaxing the river water up onto the training ground. Soon the ground was covered in a layer of two inch deep water, in a circular area with Naruto standing in the middle.

Kakshi flipped through the air, avoiding another of Sasuke's fireballs. He wondered briefly who had let the boy out of his hole in the ground, before focussing back on what jutsu to use next. He landed on the ground with a splash.

_'Splash?'_ He thought, before the water ran up his body, holding him in a sphere of water. _'Crap.'_  
The man struggled against the increasing pressure of the water, holding him firmly in place. He was just starting to run out of air, when he was abruptly released.  
Kakashi desperately gasped for breath, as he watched his blonde student wave an arm in a long, sweeping movement, causing all the extra water in the area to flow rapidly back into the river. Sakura stood smiling with the bells in her hand.  
The man sighed with relief. He would not have to fail the team and lose Naruto again.

* * *

For once, Kakashi had a real reason for being late to meet his team. The council had summoned him for an early meeting. Well, more like Danzou had. Everyone knew the old war monger had a stranglehold on the Konoha council, backed up by the Sandaime's old team mates. It seemed as though the three were stuck in the previous war era, and this time of relative peace made them uncomfortable. Kakashi kept his nose buried in his ever-present Icha Icha, and the ROOT ANBU tailing, in his peripheral senses. They really must think he was over the hill if that damn ROOT thought he was being stealthy. The bastard must have been sent to make sure Kakashi followed their orders: train up the Uchiha, ignore the needs of the jinchuuriki, and encourage the fangirl to keep boosting the ego of Sasuke. Kakashi was still trying to find a way to get around this, without having all of ROOT after his head. Being decapitated would really throw a spanner in the works.  
The man leisurely approached his waiting team, and pointed them in the direction of their first mission for the day.

At the end of the day, Naruto was in poor spirits. He was upset and frustrated. His Wolf-san had barely paid any attention to him what so ever, despite the fact that he did most of the work on the missions. Besides that, there seemed to be a random ANBU following the team around. He found the extra presence irritating at the very least.  
Naruto hadn't had an ANBU guard since he was nine, but he supposed the rest of his team weren't as apt at defending themselves unconsciously as he.

_"That is a ROOT ANBU Kit. Its target is your Wolf-san. Kill the parasite."_ The Kyuubi's voice rumbled inside the boy's mind. A demonic grin lit up the blonde's face, causing both Sasuke and Sakura to take a step away. The team's sensei pretended not to notice anything when Naruto inexplicably dashed off into the shadows of a nearby building.

_'5, 4, 3, 2, and 1._' Kakashi counted. On cue, a black dressed body landed in front of a bemused jonin and two stunned genin. Unnoticed, Naruto rejoined his team mates, and affected a shocked expression.

"Oh dear me, is that a dead ninja that just fell from the sky? This must be reported to the Hokage at once." Kakashi sounded utterly bored. He hefted the body over one shoulder, waved to his team, and disappeared to the Hokage's office.  
Naruto couldn't help it; he joined in the demon's sniggering. The expressions of the Uchiha and his fangirl were priceless. As one, they turned to stare incredulously at their disturbing team mate.

"What? Your faces were funny?" The blonde defended.

"That didn't shock you at all? A dead body just fell from the sky!" Shrieked his female team mate.

"You mean that's never happened to you before?" Naruto asked an obliviously innocent expression on his face. The two genin stared in earnest. Deciding the situation was way over their heads, the pre-teens rushed off to their respective homes. Sakura didn't even try following her crush for once. Naruto giggled all the way home.

* * *

As Naruto closed the front door behind himself, his recent good mood evaporated. The Namikaze Estate was empty; the staff didn't live on the premises, and it wasn't like any of them ever associated with Naruto anyway. Being the Hokage's son didn't save him from the villager's stupidity. The boy sighed, and listened to the echoes of his own footsteps through the deserted hallways.

_'No matter what happens, this place is always the same. A big, empty, soulless building.'_

_"Very morbid Kit."_ The demon answered the jinchuuriki's internal musings.  
_'True though. There's only me here, in the entire mansion. Maybe I should get a pet?'_ The boy mused.

_"Get a fox."_ The beast retorted with amusement. Naruto laughed out loud. _'Can you imagine how many people would freak out at that?'_

"Random maniacal laughter isn't looked on favourably, in terms of establishing levels of sanity." A random voice interrupted. Naruto's previous amusement vanished instantly.

"Hokage-sama." He greeted.

"Hi Naruto." The man sighed. "I just finished talking to your sensei about a ROOT ANBU falling from the sky. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"

"Of course not." The boy innocently replied. "My thing is water, after all, not air."

"Water is one of the demon's elements. You have a wind affinity yourself, remember." The Hokage chided.

"Of course. Once I gain enough chakra control, I'm going to make ice. And then I'll freeze the public onsen." The jinchuuriki enthused, changing the direction of the conversation.

"Umm, why freeze the public onsen?" Minato questioned his offspring.

" 'Cause it'll be funny." Naruto replied. "Well, I'm off to go practise, bye!"

The Fourth sighed and shook his head, faintly amused. He briefly wondered what the boy would be like, if he'd actually been there for him, but terminated the thought after a bit. At least his son had actually spoken to him more than just formal greetings, for the first time in six years. It was a start, at least.

* * *

At team practise, Naruto was grumpy. He hadn't been able to get much sleep the night before, his mind running over trying to improve his relationship with the Hokage, and what to do about his jonin sensei. The Kyuubi had refused to do any of the thinking for him, just occasionally directing him to different memories of both timelines. He suspected the demon was trying to subtly encourage his relationships with other humans. No matter how much Naruto acted and thought like a youkai at times, he was still a human, and probably needed the contact.  
The blonde sighed as his brunette team mate launched another pointless attack at him. He'd been standing in the one spot, deep in thought, letting the demonically charged water defend him while he continued his musings.

"You know Naruto, sparring works better when you actually do something." Kakashi-sensei interrupted. The boy raised one eyebrow at his teacher, and brought his hands up to start some hand signs.

"Sexy Jutsu." He called out, much to everyone's confusion. When the chakra smoke cleared, there stood a totally nude, tall, blonde, well endowed girl.

"Hi Cutey." The girl Naruto cooed at the stunned Uchiha, before leaning forward provocatively and placing a chaste kiss on the boy's nose. Sasuke's eyes finally moved from the blonde's chest to roll back in his skull as he fainted. Naruto returned to his real form, sniggering at the out cold boy at his feet.

"That wasn't quite what I meant." Kakashi commented.

"It worked didn't it?" The boy argued. "Besides, I just proved that Mr Icicle-Up-His-Ass is actually human." Sakura looked as though she really wanted to pummel the cheeky jinchuuriki, but was too wary to try it.

"Well, you can wake Sasuke up now. We need to get a mission done." The jonin sighed, turning away from his students. Naruto's cheerful expression fell as soon as the man's back was turned. His Wolf-san didn't seem to like him anymore.

_'It's just like your previous timeline.'_ The boy thought_. 'I'm just an annoying kid, while Sasuke is everyone's favourite. I can be sweet, funny, and studious, hell I even killed that ROOT guy for him, and still I don't matter. Just like what you saw before.'_

_"Huh. If the man can't see you anymore, find someone else to pay attention to."_ The Kyuubi responded shortly._ "And while you're at it, make sure they can help you with taijutsu. I do not want to die again, thank you."_

_'Yeah, I guess you're right. Can you show me again what that 'Rock Lee' looks like, so I can find him?'_ He sighed,_ 'I really just miss what Wolf-san was to me. He's not my Wolf-san anymore though, is he? He's their Kakashi-sensei.'_ The demon made a growling noise in agreement.  
Distractedly, Naruto cast a mild Demonic Illusion over Tora the runaway cat. The Demonic Illusions were techniques the Kyuubi had taught the boy to replace his complete inability with standard genjutsu. Really the only differences were the hand signs, and the demonic ones actually worked on animals and nin-animals.  
The boy picked up the, now docile Tora, and led his team back to the missions office, lost in the various memories his demon had given him access to.

* * *

Kakashi was worried. The usually cheerful and constantly moving blonde genin, was standing still in one spot, frowning. He wasn't even paying attention to the insults his team mate was throwing, along with the kunai and shuriken.  
The man really wanted to approach Naruto, and find out what was on the boy's mind, but the damn council had him in a bind. After the incident of the ROOT member falling from the sky; ie Naruto slitting the man's throat, then pitching the corpse off a roof; the old coots had taken to threatening the lives of Naruto, Sakura, and their old classmates, so that Kakshi wouldn't have any other students, besides the Uchiha.

When Naruto used his self-made 'Sexy Jutsu' to devastating effect, the jonin really wanted to laugh. It's not every day that someone actually makes an Uchiha faint; however Kakashi kept his cool and merely turned away, unsure of how to communicate with Naruto, without endangering lives.  
Those other lives were the issue here. While both himself and the blonde jinchuuriki were relatively safe from assassination, the other genin weren't. Some of them were friendly to Naruto, and the boy's sanity would suffer if they were also taken from his life.

Kakashi watched, with growing concern, as his student's frown, and obvious distraction continued. The boy didn't even realise that he just used a demon taught technique in view of a sharingan eye. Sensing the fox's chakra stirring, Kakashi had discretely lifted his hitae-ate, and was witness to the strangely fluid, asymmetrical, hand signs. He briefly wondered if a normal person would be able to utilise such a technique.

Just being around the boy wasn't going to be enough, thought Kakashi. The man really wanted to actually talk to Naruto again, and for that, they needed to be away from the council's spies. Perhaps it was time to request a C-rank for his team.


	3. Chapter 3

**Thank you to all the people who fav'd and added my story to their alert lists at the last chapter. A big shout out to the wonderful reviewers, especially those that reviewed at Chapter 1 aswell. Two lovely reviewers inspired me to make my story plot even better- I eat a cookie in your honour.  
Enjoy the newest installment (though I don't like it much myself I hope someone else will) **

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* * *

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CHAPTER 3

Naruto decided he was hungry. It was nearly nine o'clock at night, and he'd just finished preparing for his team's first C-rank. He'd had to devise a method of carrying water, as Suna did not have the humidity or regular water sources that the Leaf Village has. Unofficially borrowing the Hokage's scrolls on sealing had proved rather profitable. Who knew you could literally seal a water dragon jutsu in a piece of paper? The boy headed to the kitchen, and found none other than the master of the house already there.

"Hokage-sama." He greeted.

"Naruto." The elder blonde replied. "There's another plate in the fridge, if you're hungry."  
The two ate in silence for a while. Unsure of what to say during the first meal they'd actually had together.

"You finished up early today?" Naruto eventually broke the silence.

"Yeah, new processing system one of the desk guys came up with means that the council has to deal with all the civilian stuff, so I only have to work on the important things." Minato explained."Having the old fogies busy with building approvals, and the maximum profit margins on rice keeps them out of my hair. Especially that Danzou creep." Both occupants of the kitchen shuddered.

"Talking about Danzou, gotten rid of ROOT yet?" Naruto asked sweetly.

"You always know more than you should." The elder sighed. The boy nodded enthusiastically, grinning.

"Well, there's a kill-on-sight order among the ANBU and jonin," The man relinquished. "So now it's just a matter of finding where the hell he's hiding them all. A solid link between the two would be helpful."  
Another few minutes of silence followed as Naruto finished eating. Minato would have thought the boy was spacing out as he ate, but he knew that the glazed expression meant he was merely talking with his tenant.

"Did you know that Danzou has Uchiha Shisui's sharingan eye? The arm from his corpse too." The boy piped up.

"What?" Exclaimed the Fourth, alarmed. "He stole a sharingan? That's bad."

"Yep. Father told me, so I could tell you." Naruto replied evenly, "And as for the usual 'why would the demon care about this' question; Danzou was working with Madara at one point, so to Father, it's guilty by association."

"Well, I'll look into it. That demon hasn't been wrong yet, though I do wonder how it knows all this stuff." Minato raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"Ask no questions and I'll tell you no lies." The young Namikaze smiled innocently. "Goodnight."

As soon as he was once again alone in the kitchen, the man leaned forward, forcefully impacting the table with his forehead. The Fox had secrets, which the boy refused to tell. His own child had more respect for an imprisoned youkai than his own flesh and blood, it seemed.  
On the boy's list of importance, after the Kyuubi there was Kakashi; the ex-student he would have killed, if the man wasn't such a damned good ninja. He knew Naruto had yet to forgive him for his jealous impulse, trying to claw his way back up the child's influence hierarchy. He was not proud of himself for it.

Minato had caught the young jonin's hints at having received threats from Danzou; and he had to admit, it was a stroke of brilliance. Targeting someone who knew next to nothing about the goings on inside Konoha, Kakashi being swallowed by ANBU for the past six years, wouldn't know what threats were legitimate or not. The Hokage didn't think the man even knew that eight out of the nine newly graduated genin were clan heirs. And yet, he was still trying everything he could to keep Naruto as happy and safe as possible. How he envied the man's determination and selflessness in regards to meeting Naruto's needs; keeping his own distance to protect the boy's other friends.

Well, now was the time to corner Danzou, with both Naruto and Kakashi on an escort mission to Suna. And with new information provided by a scarily accurate demon fox, flushing out the old war monger and his subordinates might just be doable. Besides, Naruto might like him better if he got rid of the over-ambitious old coot.

* * *

Kakashi decided that his current predicament was simply a result of his over-stressed mind, and thinking of his blonde student too much before bed. Or so he fervently hoped. It was just not right to have dreams like that. The man looked to the clock, and figured he might as well get up anyway. He could waste some time later. He mused on what to have for breakfast later as he stripped off his sleep pants.

Standing under the cool spray of the shower, Kakashi felt his muscles relax, except for the one he wanted to. Figuring he might as well just get it out of the way, the jonin reached down one soapy hand, and began gently stroking the inappropriately hard muscle. It had been quite a while since he'd had the energy and inclination to pay any attention to his baser needs. Close to six years, to be exact. One advantage of finally being off active ANBU duty he guessed; though it was a bit of a debate as to whether that really was an advantage, or just a one way ticket straight to hell. As he sped up the movements of his hand, Kakashi's brain took an unintentional detour back to dream he'd had.

Soft honey coloured skin, lithe legs wrapped around his waist, and bright blonde hair tickling his chin. That distinctive scent of ramen, autumn leaves, and the slightest hint of his father's cologne filling his nose. Taut, young muscles under his finger tips. Hot, deliciously tight heat surrounding his member. But that wasn't the best part. No, the best part was at the pinnacle of the moment, that innocent, angelic voice screaming his name.

Kakashi knew it was wrong. Wrong on so many levels that if he were ever to act out anything remotely close to that dream, he'd be dead before he knew it. As the man slumped against the cold wall tiles of the shower, he knew it was wrong, but he was pretty sure he'd never come so hard in his life.

* * *

So far, the trip was uneventful and Naruto was bored. Luckily the new ambassador was a retired ninja, so at least they didn't have to move at a civilian pace. If they'd had to have moved any slower, the blonde jinchuuriki would have been even less entertained than he was now.  
Kakashi had taken point, the ambassador right behind him, Sakura to the left, Sasuke to his right, and Naruto as the rear guard, thanks to his automatic defence. The team leader called a halt just before the thinning trees gave way to open sand.

"Alright, we'll take a break here. The less time we spend in the open desert the better." The jonin stated briskly. The ambassador and the three genin nodded gratefully. They may not have left the forest behind, but the scorching heat was already making an appearance, and Naruto was only able to dredge up just enough water for the group to refill their water bottles. The small group rested for an hour or so under the shade of the last trees, Naruto and Sakura using the time to nap a little. It was during the brief respite that the attack came.

Some low level missing nin from suna. Maybe low chunin level at best, however the group of leaf nin was outnumbered two to one. And that was including the ambassador. The genin and jonin jumped up from their resting, instantly on the defence. Naruto pulled out one of his special scrolls he'd so painstakingly created the day before. Swiping blood along the intricate seal, a dragon made of water leapt from the paper. The blonde wrested back control over the liquid forcing it to wrap around the client, creating a seamless protective dome. He flipped and landed on top of the dome, using one hand in contact with water to continually pump chakra into the structure to resist the absorbency effects of the dry ground. In the other hand he held a kunai to black incoming projectiles.  
Though his team mates had a stable back, surrounding Naruto's water dome, only Kakashi was having any success against his opponents. Sasuke and Sakura, however, were barely managing to defend themselves; unsurprising as they had three opponents each to contend with.  
Naruto, still in his crouch to maintain the dome, threw his kunai at one of Sakura's attackers that would have otherwise driven a ninjato through the girl's skull. The man dropped dead with the kunai in his throat.

Seeing his two team mates being over-run by their attackers, and Kakashi-sensei currently still engaged in battle with his own, the jinchuuriki did the only thing he could to break through the attacking line. Drawing on the Kyuubi's chakra, Naruto's eyes shone red, his nails lengthened into claws, whisker marks deepening. In his first release state, the boy threw back his head and let out a harsh scream. Demonic chakra flew from his body, rushing like a wave just over the leaf nin's heads, colliding with the rouge nin, throwing them forcefully away from the group.  
Those that were weaker or already injured died on collision with the corrupted chakra. Those left alive were quickly despatched by the silver haired jonin before they could gather their wits and go back on the attack.

"It's alright Naruto. They're all dead now." Kakashi reassured the demonically charged child. Naruto's eyes flicked to his teacher's face. The red faded out, replaced by normal sparkling blue. The blonde's chakra flow cut out, and the dome dissolved, as the boy surrendered to unconsciousness.

* * *

Team seven and their client continued their journey through the land of wind, towards Suna. The jonin himself had suffered no injuries, together with Sakura, who had merely had a good length of her hair singed by a flame jutsu. Sasuke had suffered a laceration to his face, beginning at his right cheekbone, crossing his mouth and ending at the peak of his chin. Luckily the ambassador had been a med-nin, and was able to stop the bleeding and heal the injury, leaving the boy with merely a raised pink scar. Naruto, through his actively resisting the natural pull of the water to his own defence, was suffering from chakra exhaustion. Thus why Kakashi was carrying the unconscious genin as the group dashed across the sands.  
He had made Sakura carry the sealing scrolls that contained the dead nin as his hands were full. Well, that was his excuse anyway. Really the girl just needed to get used to these sorts of things if she really wanted to be a ninja. Besides, her hanging onto the blood covered scrolls seemed to keep her from running her mouth about Sasuke's new scar and fussing over her hair.

Upon reaching their destination, the group was immediately escorted in to the Kazekage's presence. Kakashi couldn't figure out for the life of him why the man would want to be blocked off from any possible breeze, in this heat. They delivered the unharmed ambassador, who was all praises, and the scrolls contained the group of missing nin. Sakura was visibly relieved to have the things taken from her hands.

"Is your comrade in need of medical assistance?" The masked and curtained-off kage inquired, gesturing vaguely towards the blonde boy.

"It is merely chakra exhaustion, Kazekage-sama. A good night's rest and he will be fine for the trip back home." The jonin replied as politely as possible.

"Of course. My aide will escort you to your accommodations." And with that, they were dismissed from the village leader's presence.

* * *

Gaara was sitting in his quarters, watching the people below from his window seat. He did not want to join in their frivolous actions, they merely amusingly resembled ants from his current perspective. A tentative knock sounded at the door.

"Enter." The young jinchuuriki commanded. A blonde girl in her mid teens cautiously peered around the doorframe.

"What is you want, Temari?" The young red-head asked.

"The new ambassador from Konoha has just arrived." Temari tentatively began. "Their jinchuuriki Naruto was one of the ninja escorts." Gaara turned his dead looking eyes from the window finally.

"Why should I care?" The boy demanded. The girl fidgeted a little under her younger brother's unblinking stare.

"You know," She nervously began, "Naruto never did stop writing. The post was intercepted, both ways."

"What?" Gaara snapped, standing from his seat. Though his face remained expressionless, sand began to circle around the boy's feet, demonstrating his agitation.

"Who did it?" He hissed, the sand sped up its movements.

"I-I don't know. I only managed to salvage one before they were destroyed." The girl squeaked. She may be older than the red head, but she was sure there wasn't a power on earth that could rival her brother in a bad mood.  
Temari practically threw the envelope at the angry jinchuuriki before departing at high speeds. If the boy ever found out that it was their father who had ordered the disruption of correspondence between the two boys, the little red head wouldn't hesitate to commit patricide. And then wipe out anyone else who had ever agreed with the man. The girl was very pleased that she didn't agree with her father terribly often.

Gaara looked down at the aged envelope in his hands. The post mark dated it to around the time the two jinchuuriki were seven years old. It smelled like dry sand, rather than the fresh damp scent that permeated anything from the leaf village. It must have been stored or hidden for a while then. He carefully opened the envelope, and retrieved its contents. There was a letter addressed to him, two pages covered in small childish handwriting depicting events of the blonde's home village five years ago. After that, there was an unlined piece of paper. On it was a drawing of what was obviously supposed to be Gaara and Naruto fighting side by side, crushing the bad guys. For some reason that the red head had never been able to establish Naruto had always drawn the 'bad guys' with funny black cloaks with red clouds on them. When asked, the blonde had always just assured his friend that they were 'bad-guy cloaks' that all the bad guys wore.  
Studying again the colourful drawing in his hand, the young jinchuuriki disappeared from his room in a swirl of sand.

* * *

Kakashi watched in amused fascination as his blonde student ate. Once the boy had finally woken up he had proceeded to demand food from the Inn staff, and was now scoffing down what must be close to his own body weight in rice, vegetables and barbeque. At least Naruto's ability to eat hadn't changed much over the years. The jonin was rather used to the boy's crazy metabolism. Even as a baby, being fed formula from bottles, it had taken seemingly insurmountable amounts of the stuff to fill the kid's stomach. The other genin, however, were stunned speechless at the sight. Although Sasuke and his blind mother had been living at the Namikaze estate since the Uchiha massacre, the two pre-teens obviously had never dined together before.

Suddenly, a mini sandstorm began in the centre of the room. Automatically, all sources of water moved to create a barrier between Naruto and the anomaly. That included Sakura's soda, which she would later complain about.  
The swirling sand quickly took the shape of a boy dressed in red dessert clothes. He had fiery red hair and blank green eyes; the kanji for love tattooed on his forehead. Two of the genin were immediately on the defence. The small blonde, however, launched himself from his seat. The water/soda barrier losing form to splash on the ground as Naruto performed a flying tackle hug on the newcomer.

"Gaara!" The blonde shouted, large grin in place. "I thought you'd forgotten me."

"I did not. Our messages were intercepted." Gaara replied stoically from his position on the floor, still being hugged furiously.

"Really? That sucks. But you're here now. So how have you been?" Naruto enthused, getting up and assisting his friend to stand.

"Things have not changed here." The red head replied mysteriously. Only Naruto would know the meaning of that, Gaara was unsure of the others currently in the room.

"Yeah? Same in Konoha. Let's go talk on the roof." The blonde replied happily, dragging the taller boy out the window by one hand.

"Umm, Sensei, who was that?" Sakura asked of her teacher. Sasuke regained his seat, and looked on curiously.

"Subaku no Gaara, the Kazekage's youngest son, jinchuuriki of the Ichibi no Tanuki and Naruto's first friend." Kakashi chuckled. "They met when they were four. I remember they used to send drawings and little hand-written letters to each other."

"That's so cute." Sakura giggled.

* * *

Naruto had convinced his friend that night to wait until the chuunin exams. Gaara wanted to defect to the leaf village to be with his only friend, and the promise of skilled seal masters.

_"The events of the Chuunin exams are that important?"_

_'Yes. I cannot show you yet, so just follow my advice. I have not steered you wrong yet, have I?' _The demon responded.

_"Of course not Father. I am merely worried about Gaara. The Kazekage makes him suffer so much."_ The boy replied.

_'He will be fine. His participation as a ninja of Suna is important to the timeline.' _The Kyuubi growled. _'I expect you will go hunting upon our return to Konoha, yes.'_

_"Of course."_ Naruto happily replied, reassured of his old friend's future.  
The boy returned his attention to the outside world. Team seven was headed home, running across the sands towards the border of Wind and Fire country.

Since the attack during the mission, the team dynamics seemed to have changed. Kakashi was able to freely talk to his favourite student after the sand jinchuuriki had departed. The jonin apologised for ignoring the blonde, explaining about the threats from ROOT. Naruto had been immensely relieved upon hearing that; cheerfully explaining about the clan heirs, while describing his life over the past six years. And although the man was embarrassed at how easily he had been bluffed by a one eyed, senile old man, he was immensely relieved to know that Naruto still wanted him to be around like he had been in the past. He had happily hugged the small blonde, before clearing his throat and trying to regain his composure. Said blonde had laughed out loud while his demon prisoner had sniggered.

Sakura seemed to have been doing some soul searching during the night; her whole demeanour changed since that morning. Her hair was now pulled back into a thick braid, voice toned down, and no hint of fan girlishness in sight. She offered no explanation for the change.

Sasuke seemed to be the only one who was not showing a positive improvement, as a result fo the mission. When he was offered a mask to cover his newly scarred face after dinner, he had refused, claiming that it was a fan girl deterrent as 'the weak creatures would only spread their weakness to him like a disease'. Naruto believed that comment was a catalyst for Sakura's apparent change. Further, the brunette boy's feelings towards his blonde team mate had gone rapidly downhill. The Uchiha seemed to be absolutely livid that the jinchuuriki had been the one to kill most of the missing nin, out of the genin of the team. No amount of talking or reasoning seemed to get through to the boy; he was too focussed on his thirst for power. Naruto decided that he should go see Mikoto-san again once they got home. Sasuke would hopefully listen to his own mother, if no one else.

* * *

**Up next: The Chuunin Exams; And why the hell does Gai have a sword?**


End file.
